Cultivating with Top Enlightenment Chapter 703 - 304: Saint Ancestor (Part 3)
Previously on Cultivating with Top Enlightenment...
The black flames aimed to burn away the trio of lights, yet they proved utterly ineffective.
The black jiao's roars grew fiercer from its jaws, while its form continued to diminish against the advancing orbs of sun, moon, and star radiance.
Before anyone could react, its size had squeezed down to a mere five hundred feet!
Senior Brother Shu Lingyu and Hao Qiuran, observers of the fierce clash, experienced a brief ripple in their feelings, though they quickly regained composure.
They turned their eyes away entirely and resumed their discussion.
"The audacity of the Mountain and Sea Realm this time, twisting the coordinates in the Sea of Realms to seize our Vast Realm and ignite a conflict between realms, is absolutely intolerable," Shu Lingyu declared with fury.
Hao Qiuran's face darkened as he responded:
"Our Vast Realm has long promoted harmony, yet facing the wild desires of the Mountain and Sea Realm is like an upright scholar stumbling upon ruthless outlaws!"
Shu Lingyu continued: "That's why we need to claim a decisive triumph now and deliver a harsh warning to the Mountain and Sea Realm Will."
"After taking hold of every node in this domain, we'll move on to support other sects."
Hao Qiuran's brow furrowed a bit, "Traversing this war realm isn't straightforward, right? It's far different from navigating the spirit domains across our Vast Realm."
Shu Lingyu agreed with a nod, "Indeed, it's no easy task, but far from unattainable. Once all nodes here are ours, the Vast Realm Will will fully command this domain, paving paths to additional war realms."
Hearing those words, Hao Qiuran grasped the idea at once.
He remarked, "In that case, let's swiftly eliminate this black jiao to hasten things and push forward the cross-domain efforts earlier."
Shu Lingyu wagged his right index finger lightly, grinning, "No good rushing like that—how else would we draw in the Mountain and Sea Realm cultivators?"
Hao Qiuran abruptly realized the scheme.
Engaging the black jiao in combat kept them rooted in position, and any nearby Mountain and Sea Realm cultivators would surely hurry to the scene.
Besides, the nodes devoured by the black jiao offered twice the lure. Cultivators from the Mountain and Sea Realm wouldn't ignore such a chance!
"Truly worthy of Senior Brother Shu—that's the strategy."
Shu Lingyu grinned, scanning far off to the horizon, his Primordial Spirit Power extending outward yet detecting no signs of Mountain and Sea Realm cultivators.
He let out a sigh, "Such a shame; the Mountain and Sea Realm cultivators haven't arrived. Perhaps our fortune lies in spotting the node so rapidly."
All the same, without the Mountain and Sea Realm cultivators appearing, their achievements remained substantial.
Once their talk concluded, the pair shifted their attention back to the black jiao.
At this point, the massive frame of the black jiao had dwindled from five hundred feet to barely one hundred feet across.
Jiao blood seeped from the black jiao's sleek dark scales; it was engulfed in black flames, its gaze fixed on the encircling Vast Realm cultivators, eyes ablaze as they ejected black-and-red fire.
Those two bursts of flame swiftly shaped into twin black-red beams, striking quicker than the cultivators could respond, slicing toward the direction of the jiao's stare.
Crack!
The starlight among the three lights split clean in half right away, while the black-red beams persisted undimmed, hurtling onward to the Integration Realm cultivators in the rear.
These three were early-stage Integration Realm experts, the least powerful in their cohort of Integration Realm cultivators.
For an instant, the trio stood frozen, the beam already carving a slant across their forms, severing them neatly at the waist!
"You vile creature!"
Shu Lingyu and Hao Qiuran bellowed in rage, materializing before the three in a flash.
Slender strands of rules unfurled from Hao Qiuran, beginning to mend the trio's severed bodies.
Luckily, the Integration Realm's body-fusing rules made death a tough fate. Still, the three would bear grave wounds from here on!
The black jiao sought to exploit the slaying of the three for an escape, only to get halted by the abrupt arrival of Shu Lingyu and Hao Qiuran.
Shu Lingyu conjured a colossal hand wrapped in Feather Rule, lunging straight for the black jiao.
Seeing the pair join the fray, White Crane Immortal Sect cultivators surged forward without delay, resolved to crush the black jiao through their follow-up strikes.
The net woven from their rules tightened relentlessly, unleashing dreadful surges that enveloped the black jiao completely!
In that instant, the void appeared to churn with gathering clouds.
White Crane Immortal Sect members abruptly sensed ominous clouds forming overhead, shadows creeping as brightness faded around them.
"Kill!"
Soon after, a collective roar brimming with endless killing intent resounded close by their ears.
Innumerable spells cascaded from above like shooting stars, like divine blazes, like raging tempests, like pelting ice, like divine punishment...
Like flowing sword streams, like thrusting lances and axes, like a rule-woven mesh mirroring their own...
The White Crane Immortal Sect members stood utterly stunned!
Mountain and Sea Realm cultivators?
They failed to comprehend the sudden emergence of Mountain and Sea Realm cultivators!
Instinct drove them to redirect assaults from the black jiao skyward, craning necks to peer above.
Catching sight of the thronged figures overhead, White Crane Immortal Sect members gaped in disbelief, eyes bulging at the impossible view.
The Mountain and Sea Realm cultivators outnumbered them by far!
Whether Primordial Spirit Realm, Void Path Realm, or Integration Realm, their foes held superiority in each stage.
The sole relief came from an initial scan revealing no Perfection sages present.
Next, clashes of assaults from opposing sides erupted directly over the White Crane Immortal Sect members' crowns!
The Profound Truth Realm assault struck unexpectedly, though White Crane Immortal Sect cultivators managed a response in time.
Yet they barely contained the blast to hover just above.
Rumble!
Blast after blast thundered ear-splittingly, every White Crane Immortal Sect cultivator sensing their awareness shatter in the thunderous chaos.
A momentary doubt crossed their minds: were the Mountain and Sea Realm cultivators truly this formidable?
Afterward, many faced encroaching blackness, as if cast into pitch-black emptiness, senses vanishing entirely.
Soon their very thoughts dissolved, sinking into total nothingness.
Only silhouettes crumbling to dust mid-air remained visible. Maybe these souls never grasped their demise until the end.
In truth, they trusted the Vast Immortal Sect's sacred calculations, employing forbidden divinations to map Mountain and Sea Realm links to their battle domains.
For the White Crane Immortal Sect, this aligned with the Mountain and Sea Realm's fringe spirit domain forces, promising certain triumph in battle!
All clung to that conviction, perishing unaware.
The Profound Truth Realm cultivators' intervention shattered the White Crane Immortal Sect's assault on the black jiao, granting it a short burst of liberty.
It lashed its tail, form darting like lightning, desperate for flight.
Yet the following instant left it rigid, frame contracting more, strength ebbing away.
Only upon focusing clearly forward did it perceive itself dangling inverted, gripped by a youth in spotless white robes.
Then, a chill pierced the black jiao's spirit, icing over its whole being!
It jerked its head, half-convinced it lingered in a dread dream.
But shaking failed to banish the horror.
Gazing below, it witnessed strikes fading to mist, myriad bodies plummeting, hordes of matching-attired cultivators storming the remnant White Crane Immortal Sect survivors.
Of them, just eight Integration Realm White Crane Immortal Sect cultivators endured the prior onslaught.
Six had crashed to scattered spots on the earth beneath, ringed by Mountain and Sea Realm cultivators poised to finish them.
Two others, however, halted their descent midway—Shu Lingyu and Hao Qiuran, the mightiest in their band.